D&D 3E/3.5 WotC Rejecting 3.5 Writers?

[Shadewyn]

The more you tighten your grip Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers.

-DM Jeff

Or more likely ...

The more the markets (Patherfinder versus 4E) be come segmented and discrete and employees are forced to choose one market or another ... the smaller star systems get crushed.

Big names in writing like Monte Cook do this game writing as a full time job. If the there are a dozen great writers who can support 3.5, some homebrew, Pathfinder, and 4E then they will spread their talents evenly about on a project by project basis. If suddenly they have to pick market area one over the other (imagine a contract clause like "if you write for 4E you will not write for any other non WotC derivitive D&D effort for 1 year") then those writers are going to have to choose where they think they can make a living.

Pick a market like Pathfider which can at best support a small number of full time writers or pick a market like WotC which can support a much larger number?

I also think the previous comments such as "the freelancers will pick which ever system they like" is naive. You do not freelance because you have strong personal integrety in the vision of your writing regardless of the market. You freelance to get paid ... and do so by asking a brand name what it is they want you to write for them, and then incorporate your ideas into their corporate framework and other marketing tie ins.

If ... and its still a big if as this is mostly undocumented web rumors right now, there was a stricter clause about how freelancers support derivative D&D products then the small time publisher get hurt. Period. They cant afford to hire and retain a wide and diverse enough pool of full time writers, and eventually when it comes right down to it and Monta Cook or others want to make a motgage payment and are considering "small independent FanBoi Press" or WotC the desire to make a buck and provide for themselves and their familes will kick in.

3rd Edition was a great time to shop work around to dozend of small time publishers for extra income ... maybe those days are coming to an end?

 

[Dragonblade]

I bet they're all still really BFFs though. BFFs who love to kick each other in the nuts.

Hmm, kind of like Beavis and Butthead....

 

[Jan van Leyden]

What I don't get is how the GSL has something to do with this. As a lot of you have pointed out, not giving freelancing jobs to a competitor's employee is understandable. But the GSL should address publishers, not writers.

The GSL - whatever it might contain - is an offer to publishers. The publishers decide whether they want to work according to this offer or not.

A writing contract for a freelancer is something Wot decides.

I really cannot imagine how the GSL should affect contracting. Or WotC has an internal policy called GSL which describes the process of how contractors are selected. :\

---
Huldvoll

Jan van Leyden

 

[Cadfan]

2) Companies do contract work out to their competitors all the time. When I worked at a hotel chain during college, if we did not have enough room for all the customers (i.e. airplane grounded and there is not enough room at our hotel) we sent them to our competition. When I was an process engineer for a insulation company, if we had more orders then we could fill, we contracted that out to our competition and we accepted work from our competition.

That's only relevant if

1. WOTC has more books to produce than they have authors to produce them, and
2. No alternative exists amongst the freelancers available that adequately substitutes for Paizo employees.

 

[MarkAHart]

The unfortunate side of this, is all of us freelancers who happen to work for other game companies have been completely shut off from that process now for many many months, with the delay tied directly to the GSL problems. I, for one, am hoping that these issues get sorted out soon so that I can get back into the loop.

Jason -- I hope that you and the other folks at Paizo will at some point be able to contribute freelance material to Wizards...you and the others at Paizo rank amongst the best designers in the industry, and I look forward to more of your work in future.

 

[Kwalish Kid]

WotC isn't hiring Nick Logue to develop IP's, though.

You didn't finish reading my post. It's not surprising that the rest of the post would be ignored, since it actually is calling for people to think about something that also fits the insanely small amount of details and is something that actually encourages people to think outside of the "WOTC IS EVIL!" box.

If WOTC wouldn't accept a staff writer writing similar content for freelance, they might extend the same courtesy to other publishers and not hire their employees for freelance work for similar material.

 

[BryonD]

You do not hire competitors as freelancers. Period.

First question: Then what does the GSL have to do with it?

Second question: Then why did they do so frequently during the 3E era?

Anyone who cares to argue that Paizo has not positioned themselves as such, feel free.

Well, to be picky it is pretty easy to say that WotC did the positioning and Paizo is only doing what makes sense in the position they have been placed.

 

[Cyronax]

Many 3.0/3.5 WotC books were written by Paizo employees while they were working for Paizo..

Paizo wasn't a full-on competitor until late 2007. Once the license for DUNGEON and DRAGON were yanked back by WotC, it only makes sense that they would change their relationship with one another .... including contracting to Paizo employees.

Your analogies don't really hold up because WotC can't contract out to competitors to help fill in demand. Its more zero-sum now.

C.I.D.

 

[ThirdWizard]

This seems to be a mountain out of a molehill. As far as we know now, WotC does not want to hand out D&D 4e rules to full time employees of competitors to freelance for them. That's it. Is that such a travesty? Come June, this could change.

 

[Wystan]

This seems to be a mountain out of a molehill. As far as we know now, WotC does not want to hand out D&D 4e rules to full time employees of competitors to freelance for them. That's it. Is that such a travesty? Come June, this could change.

Actually this is a *GOOD* point. There is no GSL yet, so employees of competitors would have access to material and may start on items prior to the finalization of said GSL that would prove to be an unfair advantage to them. (Yes I know that other Non-Competitor employees freelancers may already be doing this, but WOTC has less of a leverage point to tell them to please refrain...)